Search for MSU president narrows

A presidential search committee has narrowed down the list of candidates for Minot State University president to eight.

The eight semi-finalists are Lorrie Clemo, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the State University of New York at Oswego; James Conneely, former president of Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore; Guiyou Huang, senior vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Norwich University in Northfield, Vt.; Nicholas Piccolo, vice president for student life at Alma College in Alma, Miss.; Richard Rafes, interim dean for health professions and education at Utica College in Utica, N.Y., Steve Shirley, president of Valley City State University; Martin Slann, dean of the college of arts and sciences at the University of Texas in Tyler; Alan Walker, former president of Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa.

Terry Hjelmstad, chair of the search committee and vice president of the state board of higher education, said the search committee will meet on the MSU campus and interview the candidates via interactive video on Feb. 4. They will then narrow down the list of candidates to four or five and conduct in-person interviews on campus during the week of Feb. 11. Following the in-person interviews, they will choose three finalists, who will then be interviewed by the entire state board of higher education. The board will conduct the interviews and make the final decision when it meets at Minot State on Feb. 26. All candidate interviews are open to the public.

The search committee is made up of student and faculty representatives from Minot State University and Dakota College at Bottineau, from the Minot community and the university system.